Horizons
by Aliora
Summary: Aang glimpses his future and learns that limits are only a matter of perspective. Oneshot, spoilers for season three. Kataang. [COMPLETE]


**A/N: **There are spoilers in this for season three of _Avatar_, so if you're not up to speed with the episodes, it might be best to steer clear. It's rated PG for Sokka abuse - the poor guy gets a bit of a beating, and while primarily Aang/Katara, there are reallyreallyreally vague allusions towards Sokka/Toph. For some reason my spellcheck function no longer works (wtf?!), so if you pick up on any errors, please let me know. Thanks to lovediamond, Nushi, blackestfaery and darkenedsakura for letting me go on and on about the series, and I hope everyone enjoys the fic. :) 

- - -

Aang was getting pretty comfortable in his Fire Nation outfit. Sure, the collar was a bit itchy and the pants were a little long - the growth spurt he'd been waiting a hundred or so years for was _really_taking its time - but the fabric was soft, the shirt was roomy and even the headband was playing its part. He hadn't wanted to cover his tattoos - they were all that linked him to his distant past, his lost people, but he was pretty sure Gyatso and the others would forgive him eventually. After all, it _was_keeping him alive.

He was doing it to restore the hope of the people, and he was almost certain there was no worthier cause for subterfuge than that. In the meantime, he had to keep to the plan (and Sokka's master schedule) as best he could. That meant no diversions, no distractions, and no --

"_Flaming Fi Fona's Fickle Fates and Fortunes_?" Stopping in front of him, Sokka read the words on a peeling shop sign with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. "Hey, I'm all for alliteration, but don't you think that's going a bit far?"

Neatly sidestepping the obstacle Sokka had made of himself in the middle of the road, Toph gave him a sardonic round of applause. "Oh, Boomerang Boy, you're all grown up! I'm _so_ proud of you. You've graduated to a five-syllable word!"

Sokka rounded on her and scowled. "I'll have you know I'm familiar with many words of the five-syllable variety. More than you can count, I'm sure."

"Oh, really?" Toph dropped into what Aang recognised as an aggressive earthbending stance, then ruined the intimidating effect by planting her hands on her hips. "As the privileged daughter of the Bei Fong family, I was tutored privately from the age of three. I know every prime number to thirty-nine digits. Try me, tough guy."

As ever unable to resist a challenge, Sokka drew himself to his full height. "Okay, you asked for it. Words. Five syllables. How about...insufferable. Excruciating." He grinned and leaned over. "Does under-developed count?"

Toph's finger twitched and a second later a palm-sized stone flew up from the cobbled street, making contact with a part of Sokka's body that was guaranteed to cause him pain.

Aang, Momo and no fewer than three passing male pedestrians winced as Sokka crumpled bonelessly to the ground.

"You were saying?" Toph asked, her voice deceptively bored.

"Speaking is so overrated," Sokka whispered in reply.

Toph gave him a smug grin. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

Wondering how best to restore balance between the two, it finally occurred to Aang that they were one person short. He turned to check around for Katara, eventually spotting her halfway up the street, haggling with an old merchant lady for a basket of food. With a quick, apologetic look at Sokka, who was shakily getting to his feet, he jogged past stalls and shop carts, catching up to Katara just as she finalised the transaction.

"Thank you," she told the woman, smiling down at Aang when he reached over and took the basket from her hands. He busied himself with looping it over his arm, trying to ignore the warm feeling her appreciation always managed to evoke. He couldn't quash it entirely, but at least he managed not to blush.

"What did you get?" he asked instead, poking at a strange, round vegetable that he would have confidently called a cabbage, were it not bright blue.

Katara eyed the basket with a slight frown. "I'm not really sure. The lady said they were local produce, and everything there _was_ a lot cheaper than the rest of the vegetables in the market. I thought we could take a chance and try the flavour of the Fire Nation, anyway."

Aang continued his exploration of the basket, alternately disturbed by the colours and textures of the alien vegetables, and pleasantly surprised to find no meat or fish amongst the food. He didn't mind the other guys eating what they wanted to, but sometimes when the vegetables and meat shared a basket, the flavours would...mingle and things didn't end up tasting so good. He pulled out a lumpy purple thing and made a face. Maybe things wouldn't taste so good anyway.

They'd almost made it back to the others when Katara noticed the shop sign. Her eyebrows rose as she took in the name. "I'm all for--"

"If you want to make a wisecrack about lots and lots of f-words, the Warrior Wordsmith has already thrilled us all." Toph stuck a finger in her ear and scratched around inside. "Can we get a move on, Twinkle Toes? This village is even less exciting than that river place. At least it had pollution to bring in the tourists."

"That's our Toph," said Sokka admiringly, apparently forgetting his earlier trauma. "Always with a harsh word at the ready." He patted her on the head. "Aang might make this journey exciting, but you, my dear, make it _fun_."

Toph wrenched her finger out of her ear with enough force to make Katara take an involuntary step back, and immediately repeated Sokka's humiliation. He dropped like a felled tree just as the door under the sign flew open and a woman the size of a mountain rumbled out onto the street.

"Hello, my children," she said, in a voice that seemed too high, too girly for a giantess with arms like catapult frames. "I knew you would be here sooner or later. Please, come inside."

Aang shared a glance with Katara, Toph put her hands on her hips again, and Sokka rolled about on the ground, mewling piteously.

"Oh, you brought it on yourself," said the large woman, reaching down to pluck him off the road. She set him upright before backing into the store. "Are you coming?"

Katara raised an eyebrow and Aang shrugged. "We don't have any money," she called to the woman. A thin, raggedy man who'd snuck up behind them made a noise of disgust and moved on.

"I know," replied the woman, disappearing upstairs. "Would you like to learn what _else_ I know?"

"What do you reckon, Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked, reaching over to steady Sokka, whose wobbly limbs and slack face made him look like he'd been at the cactus juice again.

Katara pursed her lips in thought. "I guess it can't hurt."

"Hurt," echoed Sokka, bursting into tears.

Swallowing, Aang steadied the basket on his arm, before setting his shoulders and leading the group inside. 

- - - 

It took a few seconds for Aang's eyes to adjust - inside, the store was dark, the only light filtering in through long, narrow windows, spilling across the stone walls and floors in thin, neat lines. There was a small room beyond the front door, empty save for a pair of enormous sandals that looked as if they'd been made with Appa in mind. A skinny staircase, made from the same stone as the rest of the building, slanted up to another floor, and when the reached the second level Aang thought that it more than made up for the bare appearance of the lower half.

The second floor was..._busy_. Strange knick knacks, buttons, shells and craft pieces were everywhere - the walls were set with rows of shelves, all sagging in the middle under the weight of so much stuff. Feathers and beads and crystals hung from the ceiling on transparent threads and the effect was that of a spider-magpie's web, sticky with the shiny treasures that caught its owner's eye. Momo chittered in appreciation, his own eyes reflecting the refracted light in the room.

Large linen cushions battled for floor space with more things, and at one end of the crowded area a curtain hung, creating a small haven of privacy in the otherwise overwhelming room.

The giant woman stood near the curtain, her large shoulders hunched forward, presumably so her head didn't smash through the roof.

"Children," she said again - Aang had a feeling Sokka might have bristled at the generalisation, were he in any state to object. "I am Flaming Fi Fona. Today we will speak of your futures, and where your life paths lead."

Aang wondered why her name had 'flaming' in it.

"It must suck," said Toph, kicking away a weird glass sculpture so that she had somewhere to stand. "Being on fire all the time."

Flaming Fi Fona let out a laugh, incongruously low compared to the higher pitch of her speaking voice. "Oh no, child," she corrected, amused. "It's because of my red hair. See?" She lifted a fiery hunk off her shoulder.

Toph sighed, but before she could speak, Flaming Fi Fona clicked her fingers. "But of course, _you_ are the blind one. I thought it might be your inebriated companion."

Sokka drooled blankly.

Katara gave the woman a wan smile. "I don't mean to offend you, Miss...er, Fona, but we had our fortunes told quite recently and I don't suppose much has changed." She spread her hands and continued diplomatically. "So while your offer is a very kind one, there's the issue of time and --"

"Oh, my dear girl!" Flaming Fi Fona clapped her hands together with the force of a small explosion and Aang felt strangely inadequate compared to this mountain of a woman. "I know that already, of course. Today I offer only clarification of what was said and what you feel."

Katara shifted from foot to foot, apparently still undecided.

The words jolted Aang - they were almost exactly the same as what Aunt Wu had told him, before they left her village, and suddenly he wanted - no, _needed_, some clarification on that. "I'll go first," he said firmly, shooing Momo off his shoulder before unhooking the basket and passing it to Katara.

She took it, her fingers brushing over his own, and he took a quick step backwards from the tingle her touch had left.

"If you're sure," she said, face worried.

He tightened his headband, fumbling with the knot. "Yeah, of course." Picking his way across the floor, he joined Flaming Fi Fona, who pulled the curtain shut, effectively separating him from the others behind the strip of cloth. 

- - - 

The curtained-off section was mostly empty, Aang was strangely relieved to find, and had a table and two chairs, which was certainly a step up from the cushions on the floor. Once chair looked relatively normal - a squat, three-legged stool that came up to his hip, and the other was apparently hewn out of a boulder, as wide as Appa's head and almost as high. Fi Fona seemed to be waiting for him to seat himself, and after a moment, Aang moved to the stool. "Um, I guess I'll take this one."

He sat but Fi Fona didn't, instead moving behind the rock chair and coming back with a small metal pot. She reached into the pocket of her voluminous dress, withdrawing an assortment of twigs and coal chips, which she piled on to the table. Aang watched her, unsure of what exactly she was doing, before she rubbed her two palms together and the pile of kindling caught alight.

He stared. "You're a firebender?"

She smiled. "Something like that." She set the pot above the flame on a small tripod, then settled herself in the rock chair and gave him a long look.

Aang shifted uncomfortably. There was something about Fi Fona that made him feel small, insignificant - even _with_ the Avatar's power - and it wasn't just her physical size. Her black eyes seemed all-knowing, and her red hair too loud, too warm for this small room. He couldn't maintain eye contact and had to glance down instead, his gaze lingering on the dancing flames of the small fire.

When her voice came again, it was lower, less like a child and more like a woman, though still, perhaps, not quite befitting her size. "What do you seek, Avatar?"

He jumped but managed to stop his face from registering surprise - _like Koh in the spirit world_, he thought,_ I must not let my expressions show_. Her peception had jolted him, and he didn't know how to respond. Casting around for something to say, he grasped upon the most forthright person he knew. _What would Toph say?_

"I thought you knew already," he replied carefully, and Fi Fona laughed.

"Only the flames know your secrets, Avatar. I do not know all."

Surprised, Aang squinted, peering harder into the fire on the table. As if in response to Fi Fona's words, a lick of flame suddenly flared and in its heart he saw his own. Katara, sitting in the room behind him, cross-legged on a linen pillow, the basket of overbright vegetables balanced in her lap. A twig crackled and the image vanished, only to be replaced by another - in this one, Katara rode a tsunami, the water churning and climbing to dizzying heights before crashing down without mercy upon the many roofs of the Fire Lord's palace.

A piece of coal leapt from the pile, rolling across the table and stopping just in front of him, before splitting down the middle and cracking open into neat halves. Astonished, Aang could only stare - on one side was his face, looking out at something he couldn't see, and on the other side, Katara, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. Her lips moved and he couldn't hear her, but the words reached him regardless and he stood, knocking his stool over in shock.

He met Fi Fona's eyes and she nodded. He asked anyway.

"Is this the future?"

She gave him a level look. "It is _a_ future. Your Aunt Wu was right when she told you that everything is shaped by your own hands." She paused. "What do you seek, Avatar?"

Aang thought, pushing back the things the fire had shown him, the things he wanted so desperately to come to pass. Guru Pathik's voice came to him, urging him once more to cast aside that which bound him to the earth. Katara, Appa, Sokka, Toph, Momo...the faces of his friends and family flashed through his mind.

"I seek a compromise," he replied slowly, trying to put his thoughts into words. "I seek control of my powers without sacrificing my own hopes. I seek a solution to the world's problems and..." he swallowed, "above all, even though I can't have it, I seek love."

Fi Fona made a sharp waving gesture and the fire was extinguished as quickly as it had sparked. "A good answer, Avatar. Now, what makes you think that you cannot have all which you seek?"

Aang gaped. "Well, Guru Pathik said I had to let go --"

"Bah!" The woman stood until her head seemed to brush the ceiling. "You define your own horizons, Avatar. Countless roads can lead you to the same destination. Find your own way, and find it with your heart." She surveyed him a moment longer, Aang unable to look away from the power of her gaze. Eventually she nodded, then jerked her head in the direction of the room. "Send the blind girl in. I have _quite_ a few things to tell her."

Aang picked up his stool and pushed it back under the table, then paused with a hand on the curtain. Stepping back, he pressed his fist to his palm, bowing low before the giant fortuneteller. "Thank you, Fi Fona," he said, face still turned to the floor. "I shall meditate on your words."

She snorted. "Don't meditate too long, Avatar. The early bird catches the worm." She smacked her lips.

Faintly disturbed, Aang nodded, passing out through the curtain and cautiously making his way back over to his friends.

"She wants to see Toph next," he said, in response to their questioning looks. The small girl rolled her eyes and stood.

"Ah, this should be interesting," said Sokka, who, although pale, seemed to have recovered. He waved his hands around in what Aang could only assume was an attempt at mysticism. "I see much rudeness in your past," he warbled spookily. "You must be kinder in future to that brave and handsome warrior, and then perhaps one day, you --"

Sokka was tragically cut off as Toph planted a foot in what had to be an extremely tender area by now. Momo chittered and hid behind a bookcase and Sokka's eyes rolled back into his head. Toph stomped off, crunching shells and figurines beneath her feet. When she was far enough away, Aang straightened from the defensive stance he'd unconsciously slipped into and dropped onto a cushion beside Katara. On his other side it appeared that Sokka had slipped into unconsciousness. Aang figured it was probably for the best.

Katara shifted over so that he had more room, but she was still close enough for him to feel the heat from her body. He met her eyes and after a moment she cocked her head, giving him a quizzical look in return.

"What's the matter, Aang?" she asked, bemused. "What did Fi Fona tell you?"

He remembered what the fire had shown him, the future the coal had told him he could have._You define your own horizons_, a young/old voice whispered in his mind.

"I don't know yet," he replied, reaching over and taking the basket from her lap. "I'll have to sleep on it." 

- - - 

The next day dawned bright and humid, like pretty much every morning they'd encountered in the Fire Nation thus far. None of the others had opted to share their fortunes - Katara had looked thoughtful for the rest of the afternoon, Toph had been surprisingly civil to Sokka, and Sokka, who had regained consciousness in time for a reading, had slept away from the camp in order to "organise his thoughts".

Aang's thoughts were anything but organised - they pressed against his skull like the weird objects in Fi Fona's cluttered room, and after a tense and silent breakfast, he knew what he had to do.

"I'm just going down to the village for a bit," he told Katara, while Sokka washed the dishes and Toph cleared away the remains of the campfire.

She glanced over from where she was packing up the tent, surprise evident on her face. "Are you sure? Do you need something?" She wiped her hands on her skirt. "I'll come, too."

"No!" He objected more strongly than he'd intended, and winced as her eyes widened in first shock, then hurt. _Idiot!_ he berated himself. "Katara, I didn't mean --"

"Fine," she said stiffly, turning so that her back faced him. "We'll leave when you get back."

Sighing, he left her there, patting Appa and collecting Momo before journeying back down to the valley where the village lay. 

- - - 

Air nomads were born with a good sense of direction - it was innate, and absolutely necessary when travelling through the sky. So when Aang found himself in the right place in the right street, but _didn't_ find a peeling shop sign or a giant woman, he knew that something wasn't quite right.

Glancing up at the sun - an action which only confirmed how much time he'd wasted, doing laps of the town and ending up on the same street four times - he stifled a groan. Katara would not be happy, that was for sure. He hoped Toph wouldn't get too annoyed, as Sokka now cringed every time she drew close.

"Why, hello there, young man!"

Aang turned and saw the old lady who had sold the blue cabbage thing to Katara yesterday. It hadn't tasted that bad, actually - in fact, it tasted pretty much the same as cabbage, but where cabbage was a safe, non-threatening green colour, it had just been really, really blue. He gave her a nod, and then an idea hit him.

"Hey, do you know if there was a shop here yesterday? A fortuneteller's place?"

The woman looked confused, so he tried another tack.

"What about a really big --" wow, was _that_ an understatement "-- lady? Her name is Fi Fona."

At the name the woman's confusion disappeared, replaced by a combination of fear and awe. It was something Aang had seen enough to recognise, but here he wasn't sure what it meant.

"Come with me, young man," the woman said, circling her bony fingers around Aang's wrist and dragging him off in the direction of her shop cart, Momo gliding close behind.

She fiddled nervously with her produce (Aang was slightly impressed to see a scoop of bright yellow strawberries - he wondered how they'd taste) before pinning him with a sharp look. He took an involuntary step backwards and almost upset a neighbour's cart.

"A long time ago," she began in a hushed voice, "when the Fire Nation was yet new, a group of hunters rode through this valley. It was a royal hunt and the Fire Lord was present, his gold fire crest worn proudly in his hair.

The party hunted for a day and a night, and eventually the Fire Lord pronounced the hunt a success. They turned back, but just as they were leaving the valley, a majestic spider-magpie swooped down and took the crest from his head."

Aang swallowed. What was it he had thought yesterday, what had he thought Fi Fona's room was like?

"Enraged, the Fire Lord lashed out, consuming the creature with a burst of flame. His crest melted into the stones of the valley, and he left it there, burning beside the dying spider-magpie.

And then, there was a great crash, and the bird split down the middle. Flames danced within its body and another bird flew out of it, red and black and massive. The Fire Lord was frightened, and well he should be - the bird was twice as high as a normal man, and had a wingspan greater than the hippo-albatross of the southern seas."

The old woman paused to serve a customer and when he'd left after buying the yellow strawberries, to Aang's intense disappointment, she took up the tale again. "The bird opened its beak and spoke, and the Fire Lord quivered in fear.

'You struck me down,' the bird said. 'And yet I am reborn.'

'I am sorry!' cried the Fire Lord, and it was true.

'Know that I am Fi Fona,' said the bird, 'protector of this valley. As I have a second life, so shall you have a second chance.'

The Fire Lord agreed to never act in such a way again, and his crest reformed itself, and he was permitted to leave."

She paused again and took a sip from her waterskin. Momo fidgeted on his shoulder, but Aang was still transfixed.

"So...then what happened?" he prompted, anxious to find out more.

The old woman blinked owlishly at him. "With what, young man?"

"With Fi Fona!"

"Oh." She nodded. "Well, the Fire Lord _did_ mend his ways, for a while. And then he slipped back into his old habits later, so Fi Fona visited him and managed to convince him to change for good." She cackled in delight. "She became the spirit protector of this village, and while Fi Fona the bird was never seen again, sometimes a great woman, with red hair like feathers and black eyes like a bird, will speak to those who need her and those who need a second chance."

She gave him a shrewd look. "And speaking of second chances, I noticed you bought the blue one yesterday. Today," she reached under the cart, "I have the same...in pink!" With a flourish she produced a pink cabbage thing and waved it in Aang's face.

Sighing, he rummaged in his pocket for a coin. After all she'd told him, a cabbage was a small price to pay. 

- - - 

Sokka was pacing by the time he got back to the campsite. Toph was lying on her back, feet making lazy circles in the air, and Katara was sitting on Appa's head, arms crossed and a less than cheery expression on her face.

"Are you _quite_ finished now?!" Sokka asked, storming over with a finger in the air, causing Momo to squeak and scurry away. He noticed the cabbage and threw his hands up. "Oh, oh, a pink cabbage! I'm _so_glad we delayed our trip so that you could your hands on one of these _fine_ local specimens and --"

"Sokka." Toph didn't say anything else, but it was apparently enough - Sokka took a flying leap backwards and continued the rest of his diatribe in a mutinous whisper.

Aang made his way over to Katara, sliding a hand over Appa's nose, drawing strength from his oldest friend while he gathered his courage. "Hey, Katara?" She gave no indication she'd heard him. "I...um...have something to tell you." Still nothing. "But...um...in private."

She gave him a look over her shoulder. "Not going to snap at me again?" Her face was closed but her words were gentle.

"No, definitely not!" He shook his head so hard his headband nearly fell off. "It has something to do with what Fi Fona told me. About how I make my own horizons and that there are second chances for everyone, even birds and Fire Lords!"

Katara turned and stared at him, before breaking into surprised laughter. "What _are_you talking about, Aang?" She slid off Appa's back, landing with a stumble.

Aang reached out and grabbed her hand to steady her, and when she straightened, she didn't pull away. Second chances, third, fourth. It didn't matter how many times he tried to tell her, as long as he told her in the end.

"Come with me and I'll tell you," he said.

And she did, and he did.


End file.
